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Market Watch Top 10: Ash Blossom Stomps Everything

Legendary Collection Kaiba
launched on Friday, and now we have our first look at the surprising
secondary market response.

The hype surrounding the latest Legendary Collection release
reached a fevered pitch early last week, when pre-sales pushed the actual
sealed Box Set over the $40 mark. While a lot of players reasonably assumed
that price would come down once the LCKC actually hit retail on Friday, the
actual launch did nothing to create a balance between supply and demand.

Four days after the street date, the average Market Price and current
available price for a sealed Legendary Collection Kaiba is up to a
consistent $48, as many vendors choose to open their product for big money
singles like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Card of Demise, and Raigeki.
Meanwhile online retailers and big box brick and mortars have been ravaged
by regular players, looking to score the reprints they need, or to plus off
their purchase.

While many predicted a crash in the price of Ash Blossom & Joyous
Spring, that simply didn't happen, with the much-debated
maybe-short-printed card still well over $60. As of this writing, a total
of seven singles from the set are in the double digits range, with many
more in the $3+ range, making Legendary Collection purchases exceedingly
consistent when you're looking for a worthwhile return.

Simply put, we haven't seen a release like this in Yu-Gi-Oh! sinceThe Dark Side of Dimensions Movie Pack; a set that like Legendary Collection Kaiba, managed to appeal to both tournament
players and nostalgia-driven casuals, generating a consistent ROI that
drove stores to open sealed product rather than sell it. With news about
its key reprints delayed until relatively soon before its release, LCKC's
become the surprise hit of the year, and the interest in tournament-leval
cards from the set suggests we might see a massive WCQ season this summer.

And that's all surprising. But not as surprising as the Number 1 bestseller
this week. If you're an honorable individual that enjoys delayed
gratification try and keep yourself in suspense. But if you want to see
something mindblowing, just go ahead and skip down to Number 1 for a
second, then come back and read the rest.

The spread of Secret Rare upgrades is one of the great things about Legendary Collection Kaiba. R&D clearly saw an opportunity to
go all-out here, and delivered a set where basically every
tournament-worthy card gets pushed to Secret Rare, because there's just no
reason to not.

People are using Dragon Shrine with Darkwurm, right? Bam. Secret Rare.
Dragon Ravine's relevant thanks to Destrudo? Cool. Secret Rare. Billy Brake
played Ancient Rules that one time a couple years back? Sure Secret Rare.
Go crazy. The powers that be loaded the set with value every way they
could, because why not, and the result is a sellout product.

And Secret Rare C-Crush Wyvern as the Number 10 bestselling card of the
week.

Once per turn, you can either: Target 1 LIGHT Machine-Type monster you control; equip this card to that target, OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it. A monster equipped with this card is unaffected by your opponent's Trap effects, also if the equipped monster would be destroyed by battle or card effect, destroy this card instead. If this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 Union monster from your hand.

Since Legendary Collection Kaiba is literally impossible to buy in
a lot of stores right now, ordering Goddess of Sweet Revenge off the
internet is the only option for lots of players who want a few copies.
Factor in an enticing against-all-odds comeback effect that no one would
probably ever rely on, but man wouldn't it be sweet to pull off just once,
and you've got very strong sales for a card that was basically intended to
be free.

Also it's a big contender for the coolest name of the year for a Yu-Gi-Oh!
card. “Goddess of Sweet Revenge” really cuts to the point, illuminating on
how good this thing would feel to actually drop on some poor sucker.

While you control no cards and this is the only card in your hand, when an opponent’s monster declares an attack: You can discard this card; destroy as many cards as possible your opponent controls, then you can Special Summon 1 monster from your Deck.

Printed three times in the past, and never at a rarity higher than common,
Master with Eyes of Blue did see some legitimate tournament-topping play
back when Blue-Eyes White Dragon was a leading strategy. At this point it's
largely selling on nostalgia and the “Finally It's A Foil” factor, but at
50 cents a pop it was an easy add to a lot of orders.

People love Blue-Eyes, and some of those people love foiling out a whole
deck. LCKC lets them do that, and it pushed Master with Eyes of Blue to
Number 8 on the Top 10.

When this card is Normal Summoned: You can target 1 Level 1 LIGHT Tuner monster in your Graveyard; add it to your hand. You can shuffle this card from your Graveyard into the Deck, then target 1 Effect Monster you control; send it to the Graveyard, and if you do, Special Summon 1 "Blue-Eyes" monster from your Graveyard, other than the sent monster. You can only use this effect of "Master with Eyes of Blue" once per turn.

Order amongst the insanity! One of the biggest surprises this weeked was
the fact that even amongst the chaos of Legendary Collection Kaiba
, Pot of Desires still managed to make the Top 10. At this point we all
know it's a must-own, but the fact that it's still selling in such nutso
numbers is another indicator that more players are entering the competitive
arena and ramping up toward WCQ's.

A huge pick for any Blue-Eyes White Dragon deck, competitive or casual, The
Melody of Awakening Dragon's been printed as a foil before, but never a
Secret Rare. With the LCKC version a dollar cheaper than the Legendary Decks II Ultra Rare, it's the obvious choice for anyone
looking to foil out their BEWD build.

That said, the average Market Price is still nearly $3. That kind of price
point for so many smaller cards is a big factor in the set's sellout
appeal.

The White Stone of Ancients is selling on a similar basis, another case
where the new Secret Rare is more affordable than its previous Ultra Rare
and lower printings. White Stone's another lynchpin for virtually any
Blue-Eyes White Dragon deck, and that gave it legs enough to get to an
average Market Price of $3.

Once per turn, during the End Phase, if this card is in the Graveyard because it was sent there this turn: You can Special Summon 1 "Blue-Eyes" monster from your Deck. You can banish this card from your Graveyard, then target 1 "Blue-Eyes" monster in your Graveyard; add it to your hand. You can only use this effect of "The White Stone of Ancients" once per turn.

Beating out C-Crush Wyvern by a whopping six spots, B-Buster Drake remains
the one ABC-Dragon Buster material least likely to be run at fewer than
three copies. The fact that it outsold the other materials so handily
suggests there's definitely a competitive edge to this market pattern,

Once per turn, you can either: Target 1 LIGHT Machine-Type monster you control; equip this card to that target, OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it. A monster equipped with this card is unaffected by your opponent's Spell effects, also if the equipped monster would be destroyed by battle or card effect, destroy this card instead. If this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can add 1 Union monster from your Deck to your hand.

A massive +1, albeit with very specific requirements, Dragon Revival
Rhapsody proved desirable in both its Ultra Rare and Secret Rare forms with
the Secret Rare going for nearly five bucks. That average Market Price is
starting to dip down to $4 in available listings, but it's still a huge
showing for a card that isn't particularly competitive.

The appeal of powerful new Blue-Eyes support can never be overstated, as
evidenced by our Number 2 card as well…

If you control a Spellcaster monster: You can target up to 2 Dragon monsters in your GY, including at least 1 Normal Monster; Special Summon them. Your opponent takes no damage this turn. You can only activate 1 “Dragon Revival Rhapsody” per turn.

Yes, while the Secret Rare printing wasn't as popular as Dragon Revival
Rhapsody's, The King of D. still outsold it by a healthy margin across both
printings combined, searching enabling cards that have always been
tantalizing to BEWD duelists. Synergy with Rhapsody is a nice bonus, more
consistent access to The Melody of Awakening Dragon is actually quite good
for sake of viability, and the name is the best thing since Nekogal #1's
flavor text.

This card’s name becomes “Lord of D.” while on the field. When this card is Normal Summoned: You can discard 1 Spell/Trap; add 1 “The Flute of Summoning Dragon”, “The Melody of Awakening Dragon”, or “Dragon Revival Rhapsody” from your Deck to your hand.

Store

Condition

Qty Avail

Price

LinsYugiShop

Limited - Near Mint

1

$0.10

ionicDroid

Limited - Near Mint

1

$0.30

Gwent Merchant

Limited - Near Mint

1

$0.65

At Ease Games

Limited - Near Mint

2

$0.71

ARFtradingcards

Limited - Near Mint

1

$0.73

djcosmicCards

Limited - Near Mint

1

$0.74

SweetCards

Limited - Near Mint

3

$0.75

Illustrious Gaming

Limited - Near Mint

2

$0.75

TGS Trades

Limited - Near Mint

4

$0.75

HotNReadyCardz

Limited - Near Mint

13

$0.79

#1: Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring

Seriously, this happened.

As of this writing, the average Market Price and current available price of
Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring is hugging the $60 mark. On Friday when the
set launched, it was 55 dollars. And yet, it outsold every card in the
TCGplayer Marketplace this week, moving an insane number of copies. Flat
out, we've never seen such a big money card occupy the Number 1 spot like
this, let alone a reprint.

It's an unprecedented situation that suggests a ton of players are ramping
up for a serious run at premier events, and it shows that after a few weeks
of waffling back and forth, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring is once again
regarded as a staple by at least a significant portion of the playerbase.
If you'd hoped against hope that Ash Blossom was just going to fade away in
tournament play, you're going to want to adapt your expectations really
fast.

More duelists than ever before are going to be packing three copies, so
make your plays accordingly.

During either player's turn, when a card or effect is activated that includes any of these effects: You can discard this card; negate that effect.
• Add a card from the Deck to the hand.
• Special Summon from the Deck.
• Send a card from the Deck to the Graveyard.
You can only use this effect of "Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring" once per turn.

Store

Condition

Qty Avail

Price

Opolentia TCG

1st Edition - Near Mint

2

$55.69

ChaseRyan

1st Edition - Near Mint

1

$56.69

GenerationGx

1st Edition - Near Mint

1

$56.89

Card Guard

1st Edition - Near Mint

1

$56.95

QuagmireCollectibles

1st Edition - Near Mint

1

$57.00

corner shop

1st Edition - Near Mint

1

$57.00

Nurvus

1st Edition - Near Mint

1

$59.89

WInning Collectibles

1st Edition - Near Mint

2

$59.96

DHeshYGO

1st Edition - Near Mint

1

$60.00

New York

1st Edition - Near Mint

1

$60.03

Beyond the core top 10, the next five bestselling cards in the TCGplayer
Marketplace were all from Legendary Collection Kaiba. Sage with
Eyes of Blue, Trade-In, and Return of the Dragon Lords took Number 11,
Number 14, and Number 15 respectively, demonstrating the undeniable power
of casual fandom in the Yu-Gi-Oh! secondary market.

Blue-Eyes isn't winning anything now, and it's deeply unlikely that
situation will change. But three big cards for the strategy sold like
hotcakes anyways; a nice nod to the varied appeal of our game and the lore
surrounding it, as well as a reminder of our roots.

Meanwhile the ABC-Dragon Buster loved continued, with A-Assault Core
clocking in at Number 12, and Terraforming coming in at Number 13. That's
kind of awesome, since ABC's sit at the intersection of competitive results
and casual appeal, and Terraforming features in a number of different
strategies. The Secret Rare's up to twelve dollars for the moment,
suggesting ABC's, Trickstars, Invoked, True Dracos, and Dinosaurs are all
alive and well.

Will the explosive enthusiasm for Legendary Collection Kaiba
continue? Check back on Friday for another Market Watch, where we'll answer
that question and more.

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